Retail sales still increased slightly

Swiss bought fewer vegetables in 2018

Within the Swiss retail trade, around 389 million kg of vegetables were sold in 2018. That's 1% less than last year. Nevertheless, retail sales increased slightly. This is partly due to higher prices: in the previous year, consumers paid an average of 5.09 CHF per kg of vegetables. According to a market report from the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG), this represents an increase of 1.3% compared to 2017. Legumes as well as onion and leek vegetables recorded the largest price increases of around 5% each in comparison to 2017.

Rising demand for organic productsThe higher sales of organic vegetables also boosted sales. Contrary to the trend in conventional vegetables, sales of organic vegetables increased by 5% to 55.9 million CHF. As a result, the organic share increased to 14.4%. According to BLW, demand for organic products continues to rise.